I always read the back of tomato sauce or pasta sauce jars carefully and look for one with no added sugar — often sugar is so high up on the ingredient list it’s scary! Make sure the ingredients are ones you know and love.

Variations of this Instant Pot Spaghetti:

This pressure cooker spaghetti is naturally dairy-free, but be sure to check all of your ingredient labels to be sure.

To make this Instant Pot Spaghetti vegetarian, replace the ground beef with extra sauteed veggies like mushrooms. Saute them as you would the beef, then proceed with the recipe.

You can use another type of pasta if you don’t have spaghetti — I actually think short cuts are easier to cook in the Instant Pot as they are less likely to stick together. For macaroni, do 2 minutes cook time, and for a medium-sized short cut of pasta, do 3 minutes cook time.

Don’t have an Instant Pot?

You’re in luck! I’ve got a one pot and a slow cooker version of this recipe.

Add the chicken broth and scrape the bottom of the pan well with a hard spoon or spatula to remove any brown bits from the bottom of the pan (this will prevent a burn message).

Turn the Instant Pot off. Break the spaghetti noodles in half, and place a thin, even layer of pasta across the meat (don’t stir). Place another thin, even layer of spaghetti noodles on top of the first layer in the other direction, and repeat until all spaghetti noodles are used, alternating directions each time. Basically, we want to prevent any clumps, so be sure that your layers are not to thick — the noodles will cook in the exact place you put them. If they are in one big pile, they will cook into one big clump.

Top with pasta sauce, spread evenly to cover the spaghetti noodles to the best of your ability.

Put the lid on, turn the Instant Pot to Manual or Pressure Cook (high pressure), and select a cook time of 2 minutes. It will take about 10-15 minutes to reach pressure and begin counting down.

When the cook time is over, turn the Instant Pot off and let pressure release naturally for 3-4 minutes. Open the valve to quickly release remaining pressure.